


Displaced

by chamsie



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruising, Child Abuse, Dimension Travel, Gen, I don't want to give away too much but it feels like i should tag these things, It's not clear which, Time Travel, even to me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 06:59:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10354713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chamsie/pseuds/chamsie
Summary: What first drew his eyes were the bruises.





	

What first drew his eyes were the bruises: a haunting line of them which told the story more clearly than any words. Big, thick stripes of dark pink - imprints of adult fingers - around a slim wrist. Then a motley file of round purple-red blobs which climbed up pale skin before disappearing under a torn, dirty sleeve. A few rings of blue offered the chronology of the mess: first upper arm and shoulder, then forearm when space started to run out.

He wanted to reach out and comfort; ached full body with the need to wrap up that body in the space of his arms, but he couldn’t. Because it was happening in front of him but not _in front_ of him.

Because this was _goddamn_ broadcast footage.

Nightwing seethed at the image blown up on the Batcave’s monitor. It was live feed, and Red Robin was already fast at work to the side running a reverse program to track its source.

Like a bad cliche, the room on the screen was dark and indistinguishable, a single spotlight illuminating two figures. An adult sat centre in the frame, completely unremarkable - no decorative patterns or symbols or even any specialized gear to be seen. Just plain black body armour reminiscent of any easily bought commercial armour. Nightwing noted all of this, but it was the boy draped carefully across the figure’s lap that drew his focus. The summer uniform he wore, filthy with dirt, sweat, and dark flecks of what was probably blood, did little to hide the ugly bruising painted all over his arms and legs. Rage churned sluggishly in Nightwing’s stomach. Those slender limbs had clearly been arranged to show off that bruising to those watching.

Rough hands shook the small body, jostling until cool blue eyes blinked sluggishly into awareness. Nightwing almost choked on the rage in his gut. Exhaustion and pain, confusion and _t_ _error_ pinched that tiny face on screen. It was strange and nerve-wracking. Entirely upsetting.  A face that young should never have to look like that, and that face in particular was so similar to Damian’s. Far too similar because obviously that boy was Bruce.

Having woken the young Bruce, the figure lifted one gloved hand and clamped it around Bruce’s jaw. His head was turned roughly, exposing his throat, and the figure extended a knife from their arm before putting the gleaming blade edge right up against the soft skin there.

_[ You know what I want.]_

A garbled voice emanated from the feed. Some kind of alteration had been done to it because the tone was ominously deep, the inflection nearly robotic in nature.

_[I tire of our game. Return me or I break what’s important.]_

Bright red bloomed in beads as the blade pressed ever so slightly into the young boy’s skin. Nightwing wanted to scream at the nearly inaudible whimper that came across the cave’s speaker. The footage was incredibly high quality and he could see how tense this child Bruce was in an effort not to move and accidentally slash his throat.

 _[Don’t dally.]_  Were the last menacing words before the live video abruptly cut off, throwing the monitor back to its default desktop.

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then the cave erupted with motion and life. Only Batman, who’d been standing in front of the monitors watching wordlessly, stayed still. He seemed frozen then, as tense as his younger self had been on screen.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a very scattered idea of where to go with this, but I like how this sits on its own. If I can figure out the rest, I'll continue; enjoy this little snippet for now.
> 
> If you have any suggestions for where to go, I'd be happy to hear them!


End file.
